Chapter 20
Riean stood before Tamial, forepaws crossed over his bosom, staring directly at the one who summoned Ciristra to him. Her green eyes seemed to glow, but Riean did not avert his gaze, he kept on staring straight at her. Empress Tamial seemed to be irritated, why wasn't this beast kneeling before her? Everybeast who had met her always bowed their heads in courtesy, all except Riean, who stood defiantly before her, stared at her with his hazel colored eyes. Riean uncrossed his arms and placed them by his hips, the two were sizing each other up. Tamial decided to break the gaze, she closed her eyes, let out a long drawn out sigh, and slouched in her chair. She rested her head on her left paw, and tapped the armrest impatiently. Finally, Tamial decided it was she who was going to break the awkward silence, so she began to question Riean.
"Why do you not kneel, I am an Empress."
"I simply bow to nobeast, noble or peasant, simple as that."
"Why have you come here, to mock me?"
"No, I have come on a few things, to let you know I have received your little 'gift,' and to strike up a partnership. If I'm going to be send a complete stranger by another complete stranger, I would like to know who that beast is," said Riean.
"If you want a partnership with me, then you must bend the knee, it's the only way."
"I bow to nobeast," Riean repeated.
"I can offer you rewards you could never imagine, treasures, power, anything you desire, I can give it to you as long as you bend the knee to me."
Riean didn't speak another word, he gave the cat a contemptuous glare, Tamial glowered at the stoat commander. She sat up straight on her throne and asked him a very simple question.
"What do you want?"
"What do I want? I want the Hytar Rangers and the Redwall fighters dead, I have no desire for riches such as gold or to hold any lands, I am known and revered as the vermin who sailed across the ocean, not looking for gold, but plunder. I am going to show the dwellers of Redwall that they cannot win this war, and once I've slain their comrades, my horde and I will take our leave. You're probably thinking, but what if they track you down and try and kill you. Nobeast have ever tried to track me down and kill me in vengeance for their fallen comrades, even if they did, they were dealt with by my assassins. I am known as the 'Lord who Holds no Lands, Slaves, or Treasures,'" he explained. Tamial slouched in her chair, she briefly looked down at the stone floor, then her eyes shot back to the stoat. The feral cat sighed then shrugged and chuckled for a brief moment. Riean squinted his eyes, he cocked his head to left and stood staring at her in confusion. Tamial
.
"Very well, if we cannot do this the easy way, then I suppose I'm going to have to teach you a lesson," she said.
"Like what?" Riean asked.
"Like facing five of my best and most loyal fighter," answered Tamial. Riean crossed his arms, a large smile spread across his face. Tamial's lips relaxed back into a frown, now it was she who squinted her eyes at the stoat.
"What do I get if I am able to beat your five fighters, cat?"
"If you are to beat my five fighters, I will allow not only a partnership but a quarter of my beasts at your command," proposed Tamial.
"Make it a third," said Riean.
"We will see stoat," scoffed Tamial. The Empress cat nodded to one of her vermin guards, he nodded back to her then he walked out of the throne room. A moment later, five vermin ran towards Riean and Tamial. A rat, two ferrets, a weasel, and a fox. The rat wielded a short stabbing spear, the ferrets were armed with two single bladed battle axes, and the weasel, and fox wielded cutlasses. They encircled Riean, the fox kissed his blade and sniggered at his opponent.
"You should 'ave taken our Empress offer, now ye sleep with the fishes, you will!"
Riean said nothing, but instead let out a snort and a short chuckle. Riean lowered himself in a battle stance and kept on smiling at the five vermin. The five hordebeasts brandished their weapons, while Riean's weapons were still drawn. The weasel gave Riean a smile full of arrogants, he and his comrades began at the stoat.
"This blaggard doesn't even have his weapons drawn, he's dead meat!" the rat shouted. Soon the weasel spoke arrogantly and loudly.
"Us five against him, this'll be very easy!"
"I'll carve you all up like blackbird pie!" bellowed Riean.
"Nuff talk, let's do some killin'!" hollered the fox.
The fox lunged forward, he swung his cutlass right at Riean's neck, but Riean was well prepared for it. In a quick flash, Riean's broadsword was held tight. He blocked the fox's attack, while still keeping his smile on his face. The two's blades sang out their songs of death. Tamial sat on the edge of her throne in anticipation, surely her five soldiers could best this lone stoat in single pawed combat. The stoat and fox danced around the throne room. They parried, then thrusted, parry, thrust, parry, thrust! Over and over again, the swords collided against each other. Dodging, parrying, and thrusting, Riean found his chance for an attack. The fox made an attempt to slash at Riean's head, his efforts were in vain. Riean crouched low and deflected the cutlass, the fox's paw nearly lost its grip on the handle of the cutlass, and by the time he was able to tighten his grip, he saw Riean's sword plunged deep into his sternum. The weasel and two ferrets rushed in after their foe. Riean placed his sword in his right paw, while drawing a steel dirk in his left. The weasel began to shout while rushing in to swing his sword at the stoat's neck.
"I'll send ya t'Hellgates in pieces, scum!"
Riean dodge the attack and counter attack, he swung his broadsword over the foe's head, but the weasel shifted his sword above his head and their swords scrapped against each other. The two axe wielding ferrets charged in from behind, their weapons raised over their heads. Riean kicked the weasel in the stomach, causing the wretch to almost drop his sword as well as his balance. Doing a half turn pirouette, Riean caught both axe blades with the flat of his sword blade. He punted the two vermin in the face, the sword blade cutting into their lips. They stepped at least two paces back, holding their bleeding lips, then going back at the stoat. Riean spun around and clashed blades with the weasel. His adversary gave him a crooked fanged grin, while Riean's molars were nice and straight. The ferrets attempted a second time at swinging their axes at Riean's unprotected back. The two vermin swung their single blades battle axes, but in just the nick of time, Riean jumped from behind the weasel and kicked the vermin into the pair. The three collided with each other, causing a temporary disorder. The weasel got up from the floor and grabbed his cutlass, the ferrets grabbing their axes. All three, finally the rat with the spear encircled Riean and gave charge to the lone beast. The weasel swung his cutlass, the ferrets' swung their axes, and the rat thrusted his stabbing spear. They all aimed for different parts of the stoat's body. The weasel aimed for chest, the ferrets aimed for his head and shoulders, the rat aimed for his back. Riean deflected and kicked the weasel, he leapt to the left and dodged the axe blades, and parried the spearhead. The rat tried to stab Riean again, but the stoat had a trick or two up his sleeve. At the right moment, as soon as the spear was thrusted near Riean's chest, Riean deflected the spear, then thrusted his dirk into the rat's neck. Now it was three against one. Tamial's facial expression changed, she was starting to become worried. Her lips and eyes twitched, frustrated that who the guards sent for were completely inadequate. Riean sheathed his dirk and grabbed the dead rat's stabbing spear. He threw the spear at the weasel, the weasel blocked the projectile. As soon as the vermin had finished deflecting the spear, Riean was on him! Riean used his sword to slice the weasel's sword paw in half, and stabbed his other paw with his dirk. The cutlass dropped to the floor with a loud clang, and the weasel dropped to his knees, holding his wounded paws. The ferrets swung their axes, but for the final time. Riean sheathed his dirk and with both paws, held his weapon very tight. When they had just gotten to the right distance, Riean slashed his sword from right to left, severely cutting open the ferrets' chests. Riean stabbed the first ferret in through his heart, then stabbed the second through his belly and out his back. Blood soaked the stone floor and Riean's sword. All that was left was the severely wounded weasel. Slowly making his way towards his fallen opponent, the weasel began to cry and stammer.
"Puh-puh-puh-please d-d-don't k-kill me!"
His pleas for mercy fell on deaf ears, in one quick thrust, Riean ran his sword through the weasel's heart. Riean cleaned his sword and dirk from all the blood, and then sheathed both weapons. He saw Empress Tamial's expression went from cocky to frustrated.
"A third, like we promised," reminded the stoat. Empress Tamial began grinding her fangs in anger. Her face was very tense and her slitted pupils were just straight lines.
"I cannot believe that happened!" she hissed, "how could that have happened?!"
"It happened, alright. I've been travelling the lands and seas for many seasons, and intense sword training. A third of your army for me to command, unless you want to fight me for it?"
Empress Tamial was not in a fighting mood today, she snapped her claws together.
"Wine!" she barked. A guard of her's brought her a golden chalice and a bottle of their finest elderberry wine. The guard unpopped the stopper and began pouring the plum colored liquid. Tamial got up from her seat, taking long sips from the jewel encrusted cup. She walked over to the window and placed her cup on the window ledge. Outside she looked to her vermin workers tilling the fields, she turned her head to a forty five degree angle, and motioned for Riean to come closer. Both the feral cat and stoat looked out from the throne room window.
"You see, I have my vermin do my farming, as well as hunting, and other things. A long time ago, this castle was inhabited by a brood of magical foxes, the Marlfox. They had the gift to turn invisible, their mother Queen Silth was obsessed with beauty, I am a bit obsessed with the fine things: jewelry, gourmet food, warm beds. Anyway, a squirrel, a squirrelmaid, a shrew, and a vole chased Queen Silth's eldest son Mokkan to here from Redwall Abbey, the slew him and turned this place of war into a place for farming and agriculture. After the rats and their families abandoned this place, I had heard some of the stories about this castle. They say a the ghost of a white badger stalks the halls, driving anybeast insane. Me, I have not seen such a thing, but apparently, Queen Silth saw it. Although, she was getting old and bit mad. So my band of vermin decided to come here and begin anew. I wanted to bring back the agriculture to this castle, as well as strike hard with my growing army. I will allow you to command one third of my creatures, however, they are currently needed here. I will send them to Redwall Abbey, if you are in need of dire help, got it?"
"Fine," Riean murmured contemptuously.
"Good, now be off, I have important matters to see to, go on!" she said, waving her paw at the stoat. The two rat guards opened the doors that lead to the exit of the throne room.
Before Riean arrived at Castle Sael, before Kyron tortured the camp of peaceful woodlanders, Nikolas, Trussa, Kelisa, Fyrn, and Gernal left through the east wicker gate. Nikolas turned to his party members.
"What was once a reconnaissance mission, evolved to a quest, whoever this Log-a-Log is he must be very important if we're going to win this war against Riean," said fhr Warrior of Redwall. The five woodlander began their trek to find Log-a-Log, this was the first time Kelisa, Fyrn, and Gernal stepped outside of Redwall Abbey, a wave of emotions washed over the trio, they weren't going to quit right at the start of their journey with Nikolas the Warrior and Trussa the Warriormaid. They made a promise and they intended to keep it. As they walked farther from the Abbey, the rat twin assassins, Gemra and Vallyn watched high up in the treetops.